


(Almost) Like Any Other Day

by hudson



Category: Hit the Floor (TV)
Genre: Christmas, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 11:41:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13053303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hudson/pseuds/hudson
Summary: It’s always felt a bit dangerous and a bit out of his reach, to love like this.





	(Almost) Like Any Other Day

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tannne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tannne/gifts).



The truth is, if Jude actually did say that he wanted to have a baby, Zero would inevitably start looking into adoption laws and surrogacy options without much question. That’s the terrifying reality of his life now. 

Thankfully, Jude never brings it up for real and Zero’s in no hurry to go down _that_ particular road, but he does startle awake one night from the half-asleep state he’d been drifting in when he realizes that he would literally do _anything_ for Jude. If Jude really did kill someone, Zero would be there ready with a shovel to bury the body. 

The thought keeps him awake for most of the night.

-

They’re in Cleveland for a game on Christmas Eve, and Jude doesn’t always travel with the team, but he’s here for this one, mumbling something about spending the holiday together as he boards the team plane. Christmas is kind of a bullshit holiday, but Zero’s never going to complain about having Jude around.

He won’t complain even when a few of the guys give him the side-eye as Jude takes a seat on the plane next to Zero and he can hear whispers behind him - loud enough that he’s meant to hear them, quiet enough that no one else will really pay attention, and Zero tenses in his seat, taps his fingers against his knee and rolls his head to pop the knots in his neck. 

“It’s weird, man,” catches Zero’s attention, and he rubs his hands against his nicely ironed slacks before turning to Jude.

“I hear it,” Jude says before Zero can even open his mouth. He doesn’t look up at Zero, just continues scribbling on the notepad he’s got balanced on one knee in front of him. “Ignore it.”

“But - ”

“If you say something - or worse, _do_ something - the situation’s going to get ten times worse,” Jude tells him, still not looking up from what he’s writing, but he slides a hand over to grasp Zero’s knee gently. “Especially on a plane full of people,” he adds. 

“I hate being the center of attention,” Zero grumbles.

“You love being the center of attention.”

Zero just huffs out a sigh in response and stares out the window as the plane begins rumbling down the runway. 

“I’ll take care of it,” Jude tells him quietly, and the thing is, that’s probably not really on, having the VP of the team in his corner and pulling strings or whatever for him, but he will admit that there’s nothing that turns him on more than when Jude is decisive and in control, so he lets it go. And he holds back his smug smile when, the next evening as the team is getting dressed in the locker room before the game, he sees that Jensen - who’d been sitting behind them on the plane - is benched to start the game. 

It’s kind of a bullshit move, but whatever, Jensen’s been shooting like shit lately so he can go scratch. 

Zero’s still getting used to this whole couple thing, especially with his partner being a guy. He can play the role of doting boyfriend to a hot girl like no one’s business, but when it comes to navigating a public relationship with another man, he’s still unsure of how exactly to carry himself, or what people are going to want from him now, even months after he kissed Jude in front of 50,000 people and a bunch of TV cameras. 

He tends to brace himself nowadays whenever they’re on the road, but with a few exceptions like that shithead Jensen, most of the other Devils are pretty chill. A few of them snipe at him in the locker room, but there’s less heat to it when it’s openly directed at him than when whispered behind his back, and he can hold his own.

“You know you can’t just bench everyone who looks at me wrong,” is the first thing that Zero says when he’s showered and dressed and said some shit to the press and heads out to find Jude leaning against a doorframe just outside of the locker room. “I _can_ fight my own battles.”

“Who says I benched anyone?” Jude replies, looking up from his phone, attempting something like innocence in his tone.

Zero rolls his eyes but gives him a small smile anyway, and they head down the tunnel towards the exit side by side.

“You shouldn’t have to fight any battles,” Jude sighs, shoving his hands into his pockets. “It’s - ”

“I’m _fine_ , Jude,” Zero tells him as they step out into the chilly night. He’s always loved that feeling of cold air hitting him after a night like this, pounding his feet against the court and sweat dripping down the side of his face for two hours, and he takes a moment to close his eyes and breathe in that chill. 

When he opens his eyes, he finds Jude staring at him with a worried expression in his eyes that’s become so familiar to Zero - it’s almost comforting at this point, and Zero can’t help smiling, his own tension from the previous evening smoothed over by a game and a hard-fought victory.

“For real,” he says. “People say shit, they’re probably always gonna say shit. I made my choice and I’m cool with it.” 

Jude just nods and hums softly in response, runs a hand briefly over Zero’s shoulder that Zero can just barely feel through the layers of his coat, before turning to lead Zero in the opposite direction away from the team bus. They stop at a rental car parked on the other side of the parking lot.

“I wanted to take a drive,” Jude says by way of explanation as he fishes a set of keys out of his pocket. “Maybe see some more of where you used to live.”

It’s starting to snow, so maybe not the best time to be driving around in the dark, but Jude’s got a splash of red on his cheeks and snowflakes on his eyelashes and Zero can’t say no, even if there’s nothing really sentimental about this place for him. He came to Cleveland for college, ended up sticking around when he got drafted by the Cavaliers, and it was home for a time, for a given definition of “home,” but there’s not much that he misses about Ohio. 

Other than the snow, maybe, and he says as much as Jude, behind the wheel, pulls them out of the parking lot. 

“I think I was 15 before I saw snow for the first time,” Jude tells him offhandedly as he watches the road and Zero watches him. “New York. My mom took me with her on a business trip, and the streets were filled with gray, slushy, dirty snow.” Jude laughs, because he always seems to laugh at the stupidest things. Zero can’t help smiling a little at him. “Not exactly the picturesque scene I’d always imagined.” 

Jude drives them to the neighborhood where Zero used to live, before L.A., where Jude once came out to pound on Zero’s front door with a tenacity that Zero had never seen even when he was first being pursued by sports agents and scouts and demanded that Zero hear him out about taking a deal to bring him out west. He’s probably thinking that Zero wants to check out his old stomping grounds or something, but Zero shrugs mildly when they pull up in front of the condo building he’d once lived in.

Though, truth be told, he does have some good memories here. Or, to be more specific - because there are some fantastic memories of girls, guys, some excellent nights spent here - warm memories.

_”How the fuck did you get past the doorman?” Zero had asked._

_Jude shrugged. “I can be charming when I want to be.”_

_“I don’t believe that for a second.”_

_Jude had smiled at that, just said, “Believe what you want,” and invited himself inside Zero’s apartment and launched into another pitch for the Devils._

The moment Zero realized that Jude isn’t actually as chill and confident as he tends to project was probably the moment that Zero fell in love with him. Jude is in control and always thinking, seems to have a plan for things just as often as Zero does, but he’s also nervous and sometimes unsure and has doubts in himself that Zero just can’t understand because to Zero, Jude is perfect. And there’s something about all of that, the doubtfulness mixed with control mixed with just Jude being _Jude_ that gets to Zero like no one else ever has. 

It’s nearly midnight, but there are lights on scattered throughout the building and Christmas trees decorated in front of windows with colorful strands of lights that make the snow falling outside look even more bright, almost dazzling, and they watch it quietly for a moment. 

“I always liked this time of year,” Zero says after a while, still gazing out at the lights shining through the snow. 

“Really?” Jude asks him. He puts the car in park and Zero can hear him shift around in his seat before he feels Jude’s hand, warm and soft, brush through his hair, still a little damp from his post-game shower. “Never really took you for a Christmas kinda guy. Seems a little too sentimental for you.”

“I can be sentimental,” Zero replies with mock offense. “When I want to be,” he adds, turning to give Jude a quick wink. Jude smiles back at him and shakes his head a little and Zero turns to look back out at the snow, the lights, the trees in the windows. “I don’t know, it’s not Christmas and Santa Claus and presents and that kind of shit. That was always…”

Always out of his reach. He can’t really remember holidays with his mother and sister and there was never much celebrating in the foster home. Things like Santa and elves and presents and family were myths he gave up on pretty quickly. 

“But the lights, the colors, the decorations,” he goes on, shrugging. “Always liked how bright everything seems around this time of year.”

Jude doesn’t say anything to that, and Zero feels suddenly awkward, that familiar discomfort he gets when he skirts too close to revealing something personal, even to Jude. So he adds, “Plus, the snow on nights like this - nothing better.” 

Jude laughs a little and brushes his thumb down the side of Zero’s neck. “Snow, huh? I always did wonder what would lure you away from the sun and beaches of California.”

“Nah, sun and warm weather is really where it’s at,” Zero tells him with a shrug, and he ventures a hand out to rest on Jude’s knee without turning to look at him. “Can’t really beat Southern California weather most of the time. I just, you know…”

“What?” Jude asks him softly, seeming to realize that the moment has changed.

“I couldn’t wait to graduate high school.” Zero watches the lights blinking on a tree in a window on one of the higher floors. “When I did, I just wanted to get out of there, couldn’t get far enough away. One of the great things about Cleveland is how different it is from L.A.” 

He leaves it at that, and Jude seems to understand what he’s saying, but before Jude can prod him to share more, Zero turns to him with a bright smile.

“So? Where else’re we going tonight? Gotta say, late-night tour of Cleveland, Ohio? Not the gonna be the most exciting.”

Jude breathes out a small laugh and he takes his hand away from Zero to shift the car back into drive. 

“I’m sure we’ll find something to do,” he tells Zero as he pulls away. Zero doesn’t look back at the building left behind them.

They meander through mostly-empty streets for a while, snow beginning to pile up on the car windows, and Jude suggests heading back for the hotel, but Zero’s not quite ready yet, so he directs Jude for a few minutes until they’re on a road headed out of the heart of the city, towards a more woodsy area on the outskirts that probably looks great right now.

There’s a mountain that Zero remembers driving up once or twice that he points them towards, and after driving through several twists and turns upwards, Jude manages to find a spot with a view of the city in the distance and pulls over, putting the car in park but leaving the engine on so the heat can continue blasting.

Zero watches the city for a moment, trying to reconcile it with his memories - it’s only been a year or so since he left to go to L.A. but it feels like it was another lifetime when he lived out here. Another life. The memories almost don’t feel real.

He turns to find Jude watching him with that inscrutable expression he has sometimes.

“Why’d you come back to L.A.?” he asks. Zero laughs.

“What kind of question is that?”

“I don’t know,” Jude shrugs, turning his head to look out at the snow for a moment. It’s starting to get heavier; it’s stupid for them to be all the way out there, and Zero thinks idly of getting his phone out to google nearby hotels or B&Bs or something so they don’t have to drive all the way back down and into the city.

Instead, he takes his phone out of his pocket and tosses it on the dashboard before opening the door and climbing out of the car, trudging a few steps through the snow. He hears the other door open and close a moment later as Jude follows after him.

“Just wondering,” Jude continues. “L.A. was bad for you, growing up. Bad memories and all of that, I get why you’d want to get away from there.” 

Discomfort claws at Zero’s chest, and he shoves his suddenly cold hands into his pockets and watches his breath cloud in the frigid air around them. Looking down at his feet, he searches for something else to say and chuckles a bit hollowly. “I’m seriously fucking up these shoes. Real leather, totally the wrong footwear for this weather…”

“Why’d you come back to L.A.?” Jude asks again, not letting him get away with changing the subject, the jerk. 

Zero looks up at him. Jude’s cheeks are stained red and he’s not wearing a hat so the snowflakes are scattering throughout his hair, a couple on his eyelashes, and he’s never looked more beautiful. 

“You know why I came back.”

“Come on,” Jude says, taking a few steps closer to Zero. Zero wants to grab him and pull him, but he stays where he is. “You could’ve been king of the mountain almost anywhere. Boston or New York or Miami. Why’d you come to LA?”

Zero laughs at that. Jude is one of the smartest people he knows, but also so clueless sometimes.

“Because you asked me to, stupid.”

It takes a moment for that to sink in for Jude.

“...Oh.”

He laughs again and leaves Jude standing there, looking a bit dumbstruck, and turns to bend down and gather up some snow from the ground, packs it into a quick, neat ball. When he turns back, he fires a perfect strike to nail Jude in the head.

“Merry Christmas,” he laughs, happily. 

“You’re an asshole,” Jude sputters through bits of snow, and Zero is too busy laughing to notice Jude moving close enough to reach out and grab him before Jude’s there, kissing him.

Their lips are both cold, Jude’s a little chapped, but Jude’s warm and wonderful against him and it’s pretty much everything Zero wants, always. He brings his hands, still wet and cold from the snowball, up to cup Jude’s chin and rubs his thumbs over Jude’s cheeks as Jude presses against him. 

Jude pulls back enough that they can just barely see one another, their breath mingling between them.

“Marry me,” he says, quiet and firm and staring so intensely at Zero.

Zero’s breath just about stops; he feels like he’s been hit by a truck, except it’s not fear or pain or panic. This was never supposed to happen - he was never supposed to kiss Jude back, and when he did, it was just supposed to be fucking, just some fun and a way to ease the tension of plotting and carrying out his rise to the top.

He tries to make a joke of it, not quite able just yet to form an actual answer. “Why, ‘cause you like that I do whatever you say?”

“Because I love you.” Jude never gives him an inch. Jerk.

This was never supposed to happen, but Jude brought him to L.A., plotted with him, burned bridges for him. He’s pushed Zero but never judged, and he’s maybe the first person ever who’s actually seen past _Zero_ to Gideon, even before Zero revealed the name. It’s always felt a bit dangerous and a bit out of his reach, to love like this. But what once was just straight up terrifying now feels more like a thrilling kind of fear, something he’s desperate to chase even as it draws him into this new, unexplored territory - loving and letting himself be loved.

Zero shifts so his forehead is pressed against Jude’s temple, unable to look at him when he sighs and says, into the crook of Jude’s neck, “You mean so much to me.”

“Right back atacha,” Jude whispers back, and ducks his head do that he can kiss Zero again.

Zero will give him a real answer in a minute, but he’s pretty sure they both already know what it is, so for the moment all he really wants is to kiss Jude and let the snow fall around them. 

_end_


End file.
